Colorado's Role in Autonomous Vehicle Testing

Autonomous vehicles are getting closer to making it onto highways and streets. Colorado Farm Bureau Vice President of Advocacy Shawn Martini says that there is a movement to make Colorado a leader in terms of the testing and in the rollout of automatous vehicles and its technology. He says that Farm Bureau looks forward to being a part of this effort.

Martini: "We think that frankly rural Colorado has a big part to play. There are a couple of reasons. One: We've been using this kind of technology in the field and on the farm for a long time. Farmers in particular are pretty comfortable with this kind of technology. We understand how GPS and GIS guided system work and how effective they can be on the farm. We think they can be pretty effective on the road as well. Second: Rural communities have a lot of lane miles in rural Colorado that are a lot less traveled than the more population dense areas of the state. To the extent that rural communities can be a help in testing this technology on maybe less frequented roads. So that we can get proof of concept and help start rolling out autonomous vehicles. The benefits to not only rural Colorado as well as the rest of state will see in terms of making our transportation system more efficient and reducing some of those costs. There is enormous potential. So Farm Bureau really wants to help lead in supporting the roll out of autonomous vehicle technology and the testing of that with the manufacturers here in colorado as much as we can."